Mumbai, Dec 01: A special court today exempted 86 accused, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, from appearance till January 04 in the 1993 bomb blast case. Eighty-four of the 86 accused on bail appeared before designated judge P D Kode who ordered them to appear without fail on January 05.
Two accused, Jayawant Gurav and Mujib Parkar, who did not appear on health ground, were asked to appear on December 09. Their lawyer Farhana Shah pleaded exemption from appearance saying Gurav was having blood pressure while Mujib was down with pneumonia and bronchitis.
Thirty-six other accused lodged in central prison were also produced before the court.
Sanjay is facing the charge of possessing an AK-56 rifle and destroying the weapon. CBI has alleged that underworld don Abu Salem had gone to Sanjay's residence along with other accused to deliver weapon. The actor denied the charges and the witnesses also did not support the prosecution's case.
CBI examined 686 witnesses and the evidence has crossed 13,000 pages. The accused are charged with carrying out serial blasts on March 12, 1993, killing 256 people and injuring 713 besides damaging property worth Rs 27 crore. Bureau Report